This invention relates to stoppers for medicine vials and bottles.
Medicine vessels, usually vials or bottles, for storing medicinal liquids and powders, and for containing specimens, usually liquids, for testing or other procedures, can be constructed of many different types of materials, including glass and various plastics. Openings in these vessels to allow access to their contents are usually sealed by stoppers or diaphragms.
One type of stopper that is commonly used is tapered, much like a cork, such that the integrity of the seal between the stopper and the vessel increases as the stopper passes further into an opening in the vessel adapted to receive it. Other stoppers that have been used are custom shaped to conform to the internal contours of the vessel's opening. Still others act as caps, shaped so that they can snap closed over an opening in the bottle or vial. It is also possible to crimp a stopper onto a lip formed in the bottle or vial. Such prior art stoppers are usually constructed of rubber or like elastomeric materials, or relatively rigid materials, e.g. rigid plastics.
One type of stopper in common use permits a sharp object to be used to access the vessel's contents. Such sharp objects include needles, spikes (when relatively large volumes must be extracted from a vessel) and hoses (for pumping). Most commonly, a syringe's needle is forced through a stopper in the vessel to access the vessel's contents. The force required to pierce the stopper often causes users to accidentally strike themselves with the sharp object used, causing abrasions or even deep puncture wounds.
Today, it is not uncommon for hospital patients to have infectious diseases, such as AIDS and hepatitis, that are transferable through exchange of body fluids. When a doctor, nurse or medical technician is accidentally wounded with a sharp object that has been contaminated with infectious disease organisms, there is a high probability that that person will become infected as well. Stoppers that allow access to the contents of medicine vessels while obviating the need to handle sharp objects are thus highly desirable, in that they will reduce or eliminate exposure by medical personnel to body fluid-borne infectious diseases, as well as to abrasions and puncture wounds.